Happy Mudder's Day!

So as you all know Mother’s Day was this past weekend and the Mud Puddle did right by his old mum. It was a sunny, funny weekend. The perfect mix of happy surprise and family bonding that I love.
My ‘official’ present from the Mud Puddle was a skull necklace. It is a diamond like jewel encrusted number and very pretty. I, of course love it, as I am his First Mate and pirate sweetheart. I have worn it everyday this week. I am sure any other mother would have been less than thrilled to receive such a gift but it is such a perfect reflection of who the Mud Puddle is right now and our shared interest in the ‘dark side’ of things. I am looking forward to sharing the complete works of Stephen King with him when he is 12. There is A LOT to talk about there.

My other present from the Mud Puddle (I received some equally cool gifts from Scott but this blog is about the MP) was very typical four year old stuff but funny none the less.
We had been working out in the yard on Saturday and my dad and Scott were doing some work on the fence (tearing parts down, shoring other parts up). Of course with all of this work going on it meant that there was a lot of dirt flying around and where there is dirt you will find worms. The Mud Puddle started collecting them and holding them in his hand, making me hold them in MY hand (which I was ok with, worms good, spiders BAD) and showing them to people.

He decided that the worms were dirty and asked for some water to clean them up. So I brought him a bucket of water (not really sure if worms could swim or breath under water but not really caring much either). He ‘washed’ his worms and they looked kind of pale after the clean up but still seemed to be moving.

At some point he seemed to move on from his worms and we headed out to Home Depot (what home project doesn’t involve at least one trip to the Home Depot? As a child I remember my dad putting up our basketball hoop and making at least three trips to the hardware store and one trip to the emergency room – home repair and improvement projects are dangerous people).

So in the line at the Home Depot having loaded two carts (Scott and Dad: manly fence repair items. Mom and Me: flowers and more flowers) the Mud Puddle and I are chatting away when he tells me he has a present for me (we were celebrating Mother’s Day on Saturday b/c my mom was headed out of town on Sunday). He unzips the side pocket on his shorts and with a boisterous “HAPPY MUDDERS DAY” he hands me a dry, pale mostly dead worm.

Apparently after cleaning them he had decided to keep them close by putting them in his pocket for safe keeping. My dad quickly stifled a laugh (I was snorting mine out through my nose) and suggested we put the worm in one of the plant pots to see if it would perk up a little bit in the dirt. All I can say is THANK THE LORD we found it before the shorts were put in the wash (worm guts on a load of laundry I am guessing is not all that funny and rather gross to boot). As I have mentioned before I don’t check pockets (and even if I did feel the urge to turn some inside out this was a side zipper pocket that I wouldn’t have bothered with even in my most June Cleaver/Carol Brady laundry moment).

I am not sure what happened to the worm after its transfer to the flower pot but I appreciate the gesture and the fact that he loved me enough to give me a CLEAN dead worm.